Tomorrow CNSMHB will be giving a slideshow & presentation thing covering their recent trip to Kenya and Sudan. This will be at my parent’s church in Arlington, starting after the service (so, roughly at eleven). If I finish in time they’ll show a short edit of some of the footage they brought back with them. Stop by if you’re interested, I don’t think it’ll be particularly long.

On a somewhat related note, I’ve noticed that people keep coming to this Kiva post looking for information on riots that happened in Maputo, Mozambique on the fifth of February. The riots were related to fuel costs and the price of mini-bus fares. Fifty-six were arrested and four killed either during the riot or by the police response. Arnaldo Chefo of the Maputo City Police said that only non-lethal rubber bullets and tear gas were used (though, as we in Boston well know, such police responses are not always non-lethal). There have been similar incidents subsequently in Chokwe.

Got a sad email from Kiva on the results of the recent political instability on entrepreneurs there. There’s no specific word on Christine Chepkorir Sang. I’m very grateful that our own Christine is safely back. All open loans to Africa are here.

We have recently completed auditing the riot’s impact on our clients and as of yesterday about 4,900 of our clients had been badly affected by the riots:

– About 1,532 of our clients were displaced and both their homes and business premises burnt down. This population is currently housed in church compounds and police stations.

– Another 2,479 clients had their business premises burnt down or looted leaving them with no source of income at all.

– 833 clients had their homes looted or burnt down and about 56 clients are missing and feared dead or critically injured.

In honor of CNSMHB’s trip to Sudan via Kenya/Uganda, my dad and I (& others? you?) made small Kiva loans to Christine Chepkorir Sang (impolitically deemed ‘a hardworking old woman’). The banner below will take you to her business and others in the region. For more pictures from the trip check our newest hip tag, africa.